A biomimetic bi-leaflet mitral prosthesis with enhanced physiological left ventricular swirl restorative capability

Mechanical heart valve prostheses are often implanted in young patients due to their durability and long-term reliability. However, existing designs are known to induce elevated levels of blood damage and blood platelet activation... ...This study proposes a bi-leaflet mechanical heart valve design (Bio-MHV) that mimics the geometry of a human mitral valve, with the aim of reducing turbulence levels in the left ventricle by replicating physiological flow patterns... ... A pulsatile pump (ViVitro Labs Inc., Victoria, BC) attached to the working chamber drove the blood analog around the flow loop, via the pumping action of the silicon left ventricle, as shown in Fig. 1c. Fig. 2 a A mitral flow waveform sample observed in the experiments. ...